Business Information at Work

Book Cover......Page 1
Title......Page 2
Copyright......Page 3
About the Author......Page 4
Contents......Page 5
List of Figures......Page 16
List of Tables......Page 17
Permissions......Page 18
Preface......Page 19
The Role of Information in Scientific Management......Page 22
The Business in its Environment......Page 23
Strategic Decision Making......Page 24
Business Information Demand and Use Variables......Page 26
Problems and Advantages in Exploiting Information......Page 28
The Business Information Industry......Page 29
Characteristics of Sources......Page 31
Problems of Sources......Page 32
Further Sources......Page 33
Operational, Tactical and Strategic Purposes......Page 34
Implications of the Needs for the Information Required......Page 35
Primary Sources......Page 36
Statutory Disclosure......Page 37
Disclosure Requirements of the Main Legal Types of UK Firm......Page 43
Companies House......Page 44
European Business Register......Page 47
Potential Usage of Different Types of Company Information......Page 48
Voluntary Disclosure......Page 49
Third Party Information......Page 51
Secondary Sources......Page 52
Coverage......Page 53
Searching for Specific Companies or Their Stocks......Page 61
‘Comprehensive’ Company Information Databases......Page 62
Specialised and Complementary Services......Page 63
Example: ICC’s Company Information Products......Page 64
Scope Factors—Size of Database; Detail of Records......Page 66
Commercial Sources of Disclosed Company Documents......Page 67
Sources of Basic Company Details—Company Directories......Page 74
Directories of Companies’ Web Sites......Page 75
Countries or Larger Regions......Page 76
Specific Business functions......Page 77
Specific Types of Business: Quoted Companies......Page 78
Local Areas......Page 79
UK Companies......Page 80
Other Countries......Page 81
PLCs or Quoted Companies......Page 82
Ready-made Rankings......Page 83
Software for Ad Hoc Company Screening and Analysis......Page 84
Business and Financial Ratios......Page 85
Industry Quartiles......Page 86
Scores......Page 87
Credit and Risk Assessment......Page 88
Sources of Credit and Risk Assessment......Page 89
Credit Assessment......Page 90
Payment Performance......Page 93
Credit Decision Support Systems......Page 94
Company News......Page 95
Stockbroker Research......Page 97
Information on Other Specific Aspects of Companies......Page 101
Company Personnel—Including Directors and Principals......Page 102
Corporate Affiliations; Including Share Ownership and Merger and Acquisition Activity......Page 104
Corporate Ownership and Structure......Page 105
Share Ownership......Page 107
Merger and Acquisition......Page 109
Company Information for Marketing and Sourcing......Page 110
Further Sources......Page 111
3 Market Information......Page 112
Market Research......Page 113
Omnibus Research; Trade Association Research......Page 117
Business Statistics......Page 120
Official Business Statistics......Page 121
Non-official Business Statistics......Page 123
Non-business Statistics; Data on Consumers......Page 126
Socio-economic and Geodemographic Classification......Page 128
Digests and Compilations of Market Data......Page 131
Retail Intelligence......Page 135
Advertising, Media and Image Monitoring......Page 137
Sources of Market Opportunities......Page 140
Identifying ‘Possible’ Market Opportunities......Page 141
Identifying ‘Probable’ Market Opportunities......Page 142
Companies Seeking Foreign Partners......Page 143
Identifying ‘Actual’ Market Opportunities......Page 145
Sources of ‘Whole-Market’ Level Information......Page 147
Market Surveys......Page 148
Series of market surveys......Page 156
Less Conventional Market Surveys......Page 160
Tracing Primary and Secondary Market Research......Page 161
Publication Formats......Page 163
Tracing Other Forms of Market Information......Page 164
Further Sources......Page 165
Introduction......Page 166
The City......Page 167
Derivatives......Page 169
The Equities Market......Page 171
Collective Investment; Mutual and Managed Funds......Page 172
The Currency Market......Page 173
Financial Information and its Users......Page 174
Financial Information Sources......Page 175
Real-time Data Feeds......Page 176
Real-time Providers’ Historical Services......Page 178
Web Sites and Gateways......Page 183
Online Hosts......Page 187
Videotext......Page 190
Audiotext and Fax......Page 191
Sources of Intermediate Currency......Page 193
Price Data......Page 194
Indices of Financial Market Performance......Page 197
Other Numerical Analyses......Page 200
Reports on Short-term Developments in Financial Markets......Page 201
Performance Guides......Page 202
Ratings Services......Page 204
Specialised Retrospective Sources......Page 207
Further Sources......Page 208
Introduction......Page 209
Selecting and Acquiring (‘Sourcing’) Products and Services......Page 210
Awareness of Changes—New Competitive and Substitute Products......Page 212
Monitor Technological Developments Which Could Affect Products......Page 213
Protect Own, and Use Others’ Industrial Property Legally......Page 214
Product Pick-up Services......Page 215
Selectivity of Compilation......Page 216
• Controlled Vocabulary/Assigned Index Terms......Page 219
Level of Detail......Page 220
Package Libraries......Page 221
Performance Data Compilations......Page 222
Databases......Page 223
Technology Monitoring Services......Page 224
Official Patents Documentation......Page 226
Examples of Specific Subjects......Page 227
Infringement Litigation; Changes in Patents’ Status......Page 228
Inclusion in Trade Directories......Page 229
More Sophisticated Data and Search Interfaces......Page 230
Tracing Information Sources on Specific Product Types......Page 231
Information Needs......Page 233
Information Sources......Page 236
Country Briefings......Page 237
Country Risk Services; Monitoring Services......Page 240
Legislative and Regulatory Information......Page 242
Economic Information......Page 243
Microeconomic Indicators; Surveys of Business Activity......Page 244
Forecasts......Page 247
Economics Secondary Sources......Page 248
Definitions......Page 252
Problems of News Information......Page 253
How the Relevant News Arises......Page 254
Primary News Sources......Page 255
Press Releases......Page 256
Trade Journals......Page 257
Industry Newsletters......Page 258
National General Newspapers......Page 259
Weekly/Monthly Periodicals......Page 260
Broadcasts......Page 261
National, International and Business Oriented News Agencies......Page 262
Ways of Managing Primary Sources......Page 263
Groups of Titles—Indexes......Page 264
Needs for Secondary Sources......Page 265
Databases......Page 266
Redistribution Services......Page 268
Web News Gateways......Page 269
Push Technology Services......Page 271
Stand-alone Redistribution Software......Page 274
General Purpose Industry Sources......Page 275
News-Oriented Industry Sources......Page 276
Further sources......Page 277
Current Information Management Issues......Page 278
Information Overload......Page 279
Corporate Intranets......Page 280
Intelligent Agents, Data-mining, Push Technology and Other Software......Page 281
Disintermediation......Page 283
Sources......Page 285
Choice Between Direct or Host Access......Page 286
Charges and Charging......Page 293
Business Information Centralists......Page 296
Specialists Within Business Information......Page 301
Hosts Which Include Business Information with Other Subjects......Page 303
Controlled Vocabularies......Page 304
Industrial Classification Systems......Page 305
Concept Coding......Page 306
Bibliographical Apparatus......Page 307
1.1 Bibliographies of bibliographies......Page 308
1.2 Bibliographies and guides of broad scope......Page 309
2.1 In libraries......Page 310
3. Specific subjects (categories parallel the foregoing chapters)......Page 311
3.2.1 Market information: specific......Page 312
3.4 Product information......Page 313
3.6.1 Country information: specific......Page 314
4.3 Government information services......Page 315
4.7 Directories......Page 316
In-house versus External Services......Page 317
Information Brokers......Page 318
National Libraries......Page 322
Public Libraries......Page 323
Industry Organisations......Page 325
Other Types of Information Service......Page 326
Advice and Support Services......Page 327
National......Page 329
Integration of Information, Advice and Support: the Business Link Initiative......Page 330
Information searching......Page 333
Electronic Discussion Groups and List Servers......Page 334
Professional Organisations......Page 335
Education and Training......Page 336
Company Information......Page 338
News—Redistribution services......Page 339
Brokers and fee-based services......Page 340
Index......Page 341